Greenville, SC-based apparel company Delta Apparel (asi/49172) recently said that sales in its 2015 fiscal first quarter decreased by 6.6%. Delta reported in its public filing that it recorded sales of $93.4 million in the quarter that ended December 27, a drop from $100 million for the same time period a year ago. The company further said that it experienced a net loss for the 2015 first quarter of $4.2 million, compared with a net loss for the prior year quarter of $1.6 million.

Most of Delta’s sales declines came in its basics business segment, in which revenues fell from $62.5 million in 2014’s first quarter to $57.7 million this year. The company said the shortfall “stemmed from lower prices on reduced unit sales in the undecorated tee-shirt business, which was impacted by continued price discounting resulting from weak demand in the marketplace.”

However, Robert W. Humphreys, Delta Apparel’s chairman and CEO, said he believes the company’s first-quarter performance is not indicative of its prospects moving forward. “We believe that most areas of our business are pointing to growth in subsequent quarters, particularly in the second half of the fiscal year,” he said, in a statement. “Each of our e-commerce sites reported significant growth and had their best quarter ever. While this doesn’t make up for weak sales in traditional retail outlets, it tells us unequivocally that our brands are important and sought after by consumers.”

Humphreys further said that the company’s outlook for the remainder of its fiscal 2015 is bright, thanks to changes that have recently been implemented at Delta. “Delta Apparel took decisive action in recent quarters to improve profitability and the plan is working,” he said. “Our administrative headcount has been reduced and our manufacturing platform has been improved. Equally important, most of the associated costs to complete these initiatives are behind us. This, along with our current backlog of orders, gives us a high degree of optimism that we will see solid overall sales growth and greater profitability as the year progresses.”

Delta Apparel employs approximately 6,900 people worldwide, and it has operations throughout the U.S., Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico.